Growing the Green Economy for People and Planet

Category: organics

by Anna Meyer, Food Campaigns Associate The organic sector is one of the fastest growing segments of the food industry with over $30 billion in annual sales. Consumers are increasingly willing to pay a premium price for food that is grown in a more sustainable manner and produced without artificial ingredients. This is good news, since a shift towards organic […]

Guest post by Cheryl Hahn, Owner, CozyPure(R), certified member of Green America’s Green Business Network NATURE’S ABSOLUTE BEST MATTRESS MATERIAL In 1931, the world’s first latex mattress was introduced as an alternative to horsehair, kapok and cotton batting. The features were appealing. It didn’t have to be flipped, it stayed fresh, it stayed responsive, supportive, and it kept its shape. […]

On A Recent Visit To Ghana, I Met With Some Of The First-Ever Ghanaian Organic Cocoa Farmers. Five years ago, if you wanted to buy an organic chocolate bar, you would have had a hard time finding one with cocoa from anywhere in West Africa. Despite the fact that the region is the largest producer of cocoa in the world, […]

Numi Tea, a Green Business Network member since February, 2005, is an organic tea company committed to healthy and ethically sourced products, and the building of a thriving global community. During a recent trip to Madagascar, co-founder Ahmed Reem paid an in-depth visit to the 15 co-op farms that grow turmeric. While there he discovered many of the farmers’ families […]

Sarah’s (aka the Bee Girl) fascination with bees started at a young age, thanks to a beekeeper keeping hives on her aunt’s small farm; little did she know it would turn into a deep affinity for bees and bee health. Her childhood fascination for bees has turned into a nonprofit organization dedicated to altering our perspective and interactions with bees […]

by Todd Larsen, Co-Executive Director of Green America Campbell’s is one of America’s most iconic brands. The company famous for soups also produces thousands of other food items. Famous brands under the Campbell’s umbrella include Pepperidge Farm, Bolthouse Farms, and Prego. Like most major food companies, Campbell’s had not kept up with the changing tide of consumer preferences for healthy and sustainable foods. While the company bought farm fresh and organic companies like Plum Organics and Bolthouse Farms, many of their main products are still made with artificial ingredients, high fructose corn syrup, and GMOs. Over the past year Green America staff has been meeting with Campbell’s about a transition to non-GMO and organics across their main product lines. We highlighted the growing concerns around GMOs and pesticides, and the need to include healthy ingredients in all Campbell’s products. We talked with Campbell’s at a time when they were looking to innovate and the company was very open to hearing from stakeholders. This week, Campbell’s made several major announcements about improving the sustainability of their foods, including significant steps forward on going non-GMO and organic: Campbell’s will be launching several lines of organic kid’s soups, and removing MSG from all their kid’s soups. In August 2015, the company will introduce Campbell’s Organic soup for kids in three chicken noodle varieties. The soups will be non-GMO and certified Organic. Pepperidge Farm will be launching several organic wheat versions of their popular Goldfish Crackers. Look […]

When it comes to clean, renewable energy, the language can get confusing. In the tradition of Salt-N-Pepa, here I will attempt to break things down. Without further ado, let’s talk about RECs, baby! By Kegan Gerard Investing in renewables makes sense. From an economic standpoint, Bloomberg is now forecasting that wind energy will become the cheapest new energy globally by 2026, […]

Meet Denise Hamler, she is a co-founder of Green America (formerly Co-op America) in 1982, which helps people green their lives, green their businesses, and support high-impact campaigns to change the way America does business. The organization aims to advance a green economy that works for people and the planet, social and economic justice and for community and environmental health. […]

Celebrating greener holidays can mean reducing the number of gifts you give, choosing instead to focus on relationships and the spiritual meaning attached to the holiday season. Still, many find great joy in sharing gifts with the children in their lives. Fortunately, there are many wonderful gift ideas guaranteed to bring a smile to a child’s face while supporting the […]

On behalf of Green America, I attended General Mills’ annual shareholder meeting this morning. Green America holds a handful of shares so that we can have a voice as shareholders. The topic of genetically engineered organisms (GMOs) dominated the discussion, with Green America allies and me asking several questions about General Mills’ continued defense of GMOs in the face of growing public opposition. While Ken Powell repeated last year’s rhetoric that GMOs have been proven safe by several international organizations and that General Mills supports national labeling of non-GMO products (as opposed to those with GMOs), many shareholders in the audience were on a different page. Numerous individual shareholders voiced their concerns about GMOs and called for sustainable and safe ingredients. As one shareholder put it, General Mills should “keep an open mind, please” about not using GMO ingredients. In addition to GMOs being a topic during the Q&A portion of the meeting, there was also a shareholder resolution to eliminate GMOs from General Mills’ products brought forth by As You Sow and supported by Harriet Crosby, great granddaughter of one of the co-founders of General Mills. Though the resolution won’t earn a majority of votes (as is often the case) and all votes are not in yet, the preliminary votes in favor of the resolution amount to shares worth $682 million. Continuing Green America’s GMO Inside campaign’s request for General Mills to verify original Cheerios as non-GMO with a third-party, […]